Renaissance Women: May Miller

Womanica

Acast Creative Studios

History, Society & Culture, Education

4.3 • 920 Ratings

🗓️ 12 February 2025

⏱️ 7 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

May Miller (1899-1995) was considered the most widely published woman playwright of the Harlem Renaissance. Though she was almost entirely based in Washington, D.C. during the era, she still managed to attract acclaim from her contemporaries and earn her place in the movement for her many plays and poems.

For Further Reading:

This Black History Month, we're talking about Renaissance Women. As part of the famed cultural and artistic Harlem Renaissance movement, these women found beauty in an often ugly world.

History classes can get a bad rap, and sometimes for good reason. When we were students, we couldn't help wondering... where were all the ladies at? Why were so many incredible stories missing from the typical curriculum? Enter, Womanica. On this Wonder Media Network podcast we explore the lives of inspiring women in history you may not know about, but definitely should.

Every weekday, listeners explore the trials, tragedies, and triumphs of groundbreaking women throughout history who have dramatically shaped the world around us. In each 5 minute episode, we'll dive into the story behind one woman listeners may or may not know–but definitely should. These diverse women from across space and time are grouped into easily accessible and engaging monthly themes like Educators, Villains, Indigenous Storytellers, Activists, and many more. Womanica is hosted by WMN co-founder and award-winning journalist Jenny Kaplan. The bite-sized episodes pack painstakingly researched content into fun, entertaining, and addictive daily adventures.

Womanica was created by Liz Kaplan and Jenny Kaplan, executive produced by Jenny Kaplan, and produced by Grace Lynch, Maddy Foley, Brittany Martinez, Edie Allard, Carmen Borca-Carrillo, Taylor Williamson, Sara Schleede, Paloma Moreno Jimenez, Luci Jones, Abbey Delk, Adrien Behn, Alyia Yates, Vanessa Handy, Melia Agudelo, and Joia Putnoi. Special thanks to Shira Atkins. Original theme music composed by Miles Moran.

Follow Wonder Media Network:

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Don't miss real life amigos, Wilmer Valderrama and Freddie Rodriguez, in their new podcast,
0:05.1	Dos Amigos, where they have candid conversations with special guests about anything and everything.
0:10.6	Join them in Wilmer's speak easy for genuine moments, laughter, and a toast to good times.
0:15.5	Remember hearing this commercial.
0:17.2	Are you between the 18, 14 and 16 years old?
0:19.8	Do you think you got it takes to be a TV personality and commercials and Saturday morning shows?
0:24.7	Listen to those amigos on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:33.1	Hello, I'm Taylor Williamson, a senior producer at Wonder Media Network, and I'm so excited to be guest hosting this week's episodes of Wamanica.
0:41.2	This Black History Month, we're talking about Renaissance women.
0:44.2	As part of the famed, cultural, and artistic Harlem Renaissance movement, these women found beauty in an often ugly world.
0:51.6	Today, we're talking about one of the most widely published female playwrights of the
0:55.1	Harlem Renaissance. Though she was based in Washington, D.C. during the era, she still managed to
1:00.3	attract acclaim from her contemporaries in the movement for her plays and poems. Please welcome
1:05.3	Mae Miller. May was born on January 26, 1899 in Washington, D.C.
1:13.6	Her father worked at Howard University as a sociologist and eventually became the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
1:19.9	May and her four siblings grew up on the college's campus.
1:22.9	Later, she recalled the many prominent black intellectuals that passed through their home over the years,
1:27.7	including W.E.B. De Bois, Booker T. Washington, and Langston Hughes. May's father strongly encouraged
1:34.0	a love of poetry in his young children. May later recalled, he taught us poetry before we knew what we were
1:39.8	saying. She sold her first poem at only 13 years old, 25 cents for a piece that appeared in School
1:46.0	Progress magazine. As a high school student, she studied under renowned black writers Mary P. Burrell
1:51.9	and Angela Weld Grimke. She enrolled at Howard University when she was 16 years old and graduated
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Acast Creative Studios, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Acast Creative Studios and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.